Speak to some of the more dedicated Overwatchcompetitive players, and they’ll probably tell you that the current Season 5 of Competitive Play is either the worst or toughest, or perhaps a combination of both.

Community toxicity aside, the grind up the ranking is as tough as it’s ever been, and in Season 5 that’s mostly put down to the dive meta.

The dive meta is perhaps best explained as team composition that is fixated on quick and unpredictable “diving” on capture points, payloads, and support heroes. A successful “dive” generally equates to a team kill, or quickly getting the picks necessary to help capture or move a point.

As you can imagine, the “dive” focuses on heroes that can quickly and aggressively dive into a contested area. Heroes like Winston and D.Va fit firmly into that dive strategy.

So how has the dive meta come about? As the competitive seasons roll out, teams are becoming more conservative with their approach to healing and support customisation. Teams are doing a better job of protecting their Mercy, Ana, Lucio etc., and so what we saw was a sudden rise in the support meta making its way into team compositions.

Naturally the game community shifted and adjusted, and so the aforementioned tanks, particularly Winston, have found their way into the meta. Winston is particularly useful against Symmetra, whose sentries can cause insane ult buildup and damage, as he is against all other supports, particularly an unprotected Mercy.

Winston’s rise is still quite surprising, though, because he was once one of the least played heroes in Competitive Play. OmnicMeta has released its most recent aggregated hero report, and it shows that both Winston and D.Va have replaced two competitive play stalwarts in Reinhardt and Roadhog.

Roadhog’s recent changes have seen him drop off quite a bit, although as players learn to adjust and as Blizzard continues to tweak him, he’ll probably find his way back in.

What’s really interesting is Reinhardt’s drop. He has dropped at least 4 percent in every tier except Master. That could have to do with an inconsistent shield and abilities portfolio, which is something Blizzard is working to address.

One would think that he’d eventually find his way back in, as his winrate hasn’t dropped that far. However he’s obviously made way for a dive meta comp, one that appears to be forcing higher tiers to change how they approach supports.

Ana has seen a significant drop off in both Master and Grandmaster, while Mercy has surprisingly fallen down in Master. Is that a sign of things to come? Blizzard certainly needs to get over its tank and DPS obsession and get a new Support hero into the mix, one that blends in well with this dive meta.

Which brings us to the next interesting point: Zenyatta’s rise. He is becoming an increasingly popular pick, perhaps teamed up alongside a Lucio as a team’s two Support heroes. Mercy’s decline in Master is perhaps the best reflection of the rise of Zen, and his place in the dive meta.

Unsurprisingly out of all of this is that in Bronze, while Zen is being acknowledged as an increasingly important pick, Hanzo is up a staggering 6 percent. You Bronze players, I’ll never get you!

Gaetano Prestia Editor in Chief

Gaetano loves Doritos and always orders Mountain Dew with his KFC. He's not sorry. He also likes Call Of Duty, but would much rather play Civ. He hates losing at FIFA, and his pet hate is people who recline their seat on short-haul flights.